Over the last year, we have seen absurd efforts to blame violent acts committed by people who had nothing to do with politics on politicians and activists who have nothing to do with violence. No matter: it is all about political opportunism.

In fact, however, we do have a political or quasi-political movement in the United States that in recent years has often resorted to violence: the union movement. To cite just one example, one of the terrible, little-known outrages of our modern history was the 1990 Greyhound bus strike, when union snipers fired on Greyhound buses across the country. There were at least 21 such incidents, in some of which passengers were shot. Union leaders, to my knowledge, were never punished for the armed guerrilla attacks they organized.

After talking about the King shooting, Hinderaker says this:

Imagine the hysteria if Tea Partiers did such a thing! But such violence is routine if you are a businessman who is willing to employ construction workers without making them pay tribute to corrupt union bosses. Last week, things took a more serious turn when a union organizer shot John King:

Imagine indeed. It wouldn’t just be all we were talking about in this country for a month, we’d be hearing foreign media chime in.

Unions have a history of killing, maiming, and vandalizing that goes back more than a century. Here’s just a little taste of some of their recent behavior towards the tea party. It’s a milder than actual murder, but it’s still not pretty. WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE.

Christopher Cook is a writer, editor, and political commentator. He is the president of Castleraine, Inc., a consulting firm providing a diverse array of services to corporate, public policy, and not-for-profit clients.

Ardently devoted to the cause of human freedom, he has worked at the confluence of politics, activism, and public policy for more than a decade. He co-wrote a ten-part series of video shorts on economics, and has film credits as a researcher on 11 political documentaries, including Citizens United's notorious film on Hillary Clinton that became the subject of a landmark Supreme Court decision. He is the founder of several activist endeavors, including AnyStreet.org (now a part of Western Free Press) and Liberatchik.com. He is currently the managing editor of and principal contributor to WesternFreePress.com.